Question

A fisherman sees his boat moving up and down, owing to waves on the water. It takes 2.5 s for the boat to travel from its highest to lowest point, a distance of 0.62 m. The fisherman sees that the wave crests are spaced 6 m apart. How fast are the waves traveling?

Answer 1

The waves are traveling in a speed of

v=1.20 m/s

Step-by-step explanation:

The fisherman see a wave at 6m apart so that's the wavelength

`L=6m`

Now the period is the time between two successive waves so

`t=2*2.5s=5s`

The velocity of the waves is describe by:

`v=f*L`

`f=(1)/(t)=(1)/(5s)=20s^(-1)`

`v=0.20s^(-1)*6m`

`v=1.20 (m)/(s)`